Many art critics have suggested that he should put the paintbrush back down with The Independent claiming that his efforts are on the same level of “a first-year art student”.

“They’re thoroughly derivative. Their handling is weak. They’re extremely boring. I’m not saying that he’s absolutely hopeless. But I’m not saying he’s any good either.”

“There are many degrees of painting. There are many painters in evening classes much worse than Hirst. On the other hand, you’d find quite a few who were better, too.”

“To try to be accurate: Hirst, as a painter, is at about the level of a not-very-promising, first-year art student. He is in his mid-forties.”

The paintings have gone on show, flanked by the works of Titian and Gainsborough at the Wallace Collection in London.

The Daily Telegraph was kinder but said the paintings – when studied on their own – failed to pass the test.

“Although they have impact as a group, individually many of the paintings simply don’t pass muster,” its critic said.

“Details are tentatively painted; compositions fall apart under scrutiny. The deliberate comparisons with Bacon and with the Old Masters on the Wallace’s walls emphasise how thin and one-note these offerings are.”

The Guardian called his collection “deadly dull” and “amateurish” but praised his attempts to create art without “his armies of assistants”.

“At its worst, Hirst’s drawing just looks amateurish and adolescent. His brushwork lacks that oomph and panache that makes you believe in the painter’s lies. He can’t yet carry it off.

Hirst funded a £250,000 refurbishment of the gallery, which now has blue silk drapes, so that the show would be free to visitors.